Page 43 of Ruthless Scoundrel
My people need me.
My rebellion needs their weapon.
I’m theonlyone who can defeat her.
My jaw hurts from how hard I’m clenching. I move slowly and silently as I stick the key in the manacle. It clicks and pops open. I watch Jasper carefully as I slide the manacle off. His brow is pinched and eyes winced shut. He’s in real pain.
But it’s not a pain I can do anything about.
With slow precision, I extricate myself from his hold and put his arm around a spare coconut. Jasper shivers as I pull away from him and something in my gut turns sour. It stabs at me, telling me I’m doing something bad, something horrific.
But it’s just fear.
I’ve never been on my own, and I will be completely abandoned now. Bartering for travel, finding my way. That’s going to be hard. But I will do it. My people need me.
I slide back through the sand and push the opening aside to leave.
“Rei,” Jasper groans, and I look over my shoulder.
I shouldn’t have.
He claws at the coconut and a second later, his eyes snap open. They glow white with pulses of opal color, but they’re completely black beneath his magic.
I’m in danger.
Adrenaline surges through my body and I bolt. The sand makes it hard, but I pump my arms and legs as I dash for the trees. My muscles are sore and already burn, but I keep going.
“Ohksana’amai!” Jasper roars.
I don’t know what he’s saying, or what the language even is, but I know it can’t be good.
Will I even escape him? He can smell my arousal, so he can most certainly smell my sweat and fear. There will be no hiding from him. Now that he’s awake, there’s no fleeing him.
Yet I can’t stop. Terror propels me forward. What will happen if he catches me?
“Reina!” he snarls and there’s something in his voice that’s predatory yet lustful.
He’s close, but I can’t stop. I can’t give in.
“It’s ritual. It’s purposeful. The chase,”the wind to whispers.
What the hell was that?
I’m tackled from behind and yelp as I go down. But I don’t hit the ground. Jasper turns as we fall, cradling my body against his as we collide with the sand.
I flail and struggle, but he promptly rolls me onto my belly, pinning me down.
“Ohksana’amai,” he breathes against my cheek before his tongue snakes out to taste my sweat.
The action sends heat surging through my body, tightening in my pelvis. It shouldn’t. Itcan’t. I won’t let it.
“So sweet,” he says, his voice a low, guttural thing. “All mine.”
He grips my wrists in one hand as he rolls me over with the other. His eyes are completely black below the glow of his magic, and there’s something untamed about the way he looks at me. But I know I’m safe with him. Some deep part of me knows Jasper wouldneverhurt me. Can I trust that instinct?
Arousal makes my heart beat even faster. He slides one of his legs between mine and holds me still as he speaks in that foreign tongue. My fear abates at the worshipful nature of his voice, the way his gaze skates over my body and his hand caresses my side.
“Stop, Jasper. Please,” I whisper. “I’m scared.”
